(4 / 5)

13 or 14 years ago, while studying Drama at school, I was introduced to the world of Melodrama and in particular, Maria Marten. We investigated the parallels between the real life story and its dramatisation for entertainment, performing the show ourselves for both audience and coursework purposes. So when I saw the press release for this, I was both excited and anxious to revisit a story which helped me continue my love of theatre.

The Ballard of Maria Marten is based on the true life events of Maria who, growing up poor, meets and falls in love with a series of fortunate men. Eventually, one of them turns out to be awful, physically and emotionally abusing her, leading to her death. Don’t worry, this is no spoiler – the famous story is known for it’s heroine’s unfortunate ending and a big reason it was taken for the stage. This version looks more at Maria’s side; her background, what she may have encountered, her growing smugness at the attention from rich men, desperately wanting love, when eventually, former failings at relationships leads her to be gaslit and abused. In her story, we also encounter other characters to build this back story, highlighting friendship, family, love and womanhood, motherhood and the difficulties of the era.

Eastern Angels have smartly moved away from the melodrama element. The closest we tend to get these days is the Pantomime, and so, while I would have been intrigued to see a modern day melodrama, this story is taken and performed sensitively and down to earth. It is mostly played straight, with the occasional joke or slight kooky characters, but you for sure believe in them. Once we get to know them and become part of their friendship, the end is all the more emotional and painful.

The performers are all women, and they choose to dress up for the first two suitors. This is effective and genuine and so as we see the relationships progress, it makes her heartbreak and abuse become even more dramatic. Her Father and her final suitor are not shown. While the Father isn’t seen as abusive, it highlights how out the picture he is to her and her life. Not giving the “villain” a face is also effective – Elizabeth Crarer, who plays Maria, uses great physicality, reactions and facial expressions to express his abusive nature and it makes it all the more frightening and disturbing, adding to her deterioration.

There is a huge element of girl power and girl friendships in this piece. My memory to some degree is hazy on both the story and the melodramatic version, but adding these characters makes the show more real. And they are all different as of any friendship group. The amazing thing about this version of the story is that we can relate, and with its reflection on events in the last couple of years. We can relate to a friendship group; of them growing up together and coming of age both together and as individuals. The elements of domestic abuse and murder also pick up on issues in the last few years; of potential home abuse increasing through Covid-19 and the sad death of Sarah Everard and others that have come to the surface. Media makes this shocking and tragic, as it really is but not something, sadly, new.

There is a lovely country feel to this production: in Wilton’s Music Hall, the perfect setting for a play set so long ago. The old furnishings and patchwork walls add to the idea of the countryside, with the wooden barn silhouette on stage – fits as if it has always been there. There is recorded music, music that feels very folk but often they will sing the ballards themselves, harmonising beautifully. Unfortunately sometimes the words were lost to the echo of the space which was a shame when it was so beautiful. They also make their own sounds of objects, babies, horses which adds a real sense of authenticity as opposed to recorded soundbites.

The Ballard of Maria Marten is reclaiming back her story. There are no villains in top hats and capes or over the top gestures as was originally meant by turning this sad true tale into a production, but all the gaps in between are filled in the story with this heartfelt, emotional and at times, funny retelling.

Rocky Horror isn’t just a show: it’s an experience. That’s the promise that has ushered audiences into its weird and wonderful world for nearly fifty years. Starting life as an experimental stage play in 1973, it gained a cult fanbase with the iconic 1975 movie adaptation. The film might have bombed, but its success went nuclear: it exploded on the indie scene, and after the countless midnight showings and Halloween screenings that followed, Richard O’Brien’s counter-cultural magnum opus has made its rambunctious debut in Cardiff to remind us why it’s time to do time warp again.

Brad (Ore Oduba) and Janet (Haley Flaherty) are two college kids who are on the road to marriage – until they get a flat tyre just outside Castle Frankenstein. Pathologically prim and proper, they’ve never put a toe out of line; but now they’ve set foot in the lascivious lair of Dr Frank-N-Furter (Stephen Webb), they’re in for a treat – and a few tricks along the way.

Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Rocky Horror is a non-stop thrill-fest that never comes up for air. The cast are extremely game and honour their filmic counterparts while adding their own unique spin to the characters. And there’s no character more unique than Frank-N-Furter, a role which launched Tim Curry into the celluloid stratosphere. Curry has big platforms to fill, but Webb slips into them with ease. Sensuous, sinister, and seductive, he’s a negligée-d enigma. Masculine, feminine, beautiful, scary: Frank is at the intersection of it all, and nowhere is that better showcased than in Webb’s explosive entrance: “Sweet Transvestite”. From the moment he stepped through the smoke like a demented, diamanté-d Dracula, he had everyone in attendance trembling with antici… pation.

Since his Strictly win, Oduba has proven himself a force to be reckoned with on the stage, moving effortlessly between cutesy doo-wops (“Dammit, Janet!”) and emotive ballads (“Once in a While”). Flaherty is hilariously nervy and nerdy as the vestal Janet, before enthusiastically wooing Ben Westhead’s Rocky (wearing nothing but Speedos and a smile) with the absolute banger that is “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me”. But there’s nothing that touches the gorgeous majesty of “The Time Warp”, which has the ensemble and the audience alike bopping about in harmony.

Everyone looks like they’re having a ball. Stefania Du Toit (stepping in for Lauren Ingram) is perfect as Columbia, the helium-voiced henchwoman with a heart as gold as her top hat. Equally impressive is Suzie McAdam as Magenta, a simmering flame of charisma with a voice like bourbon on the rocks. Kristian Lavercombe plays her brother Riff Raff, an Igor-like acolyte of Frank’s. Lavercombe moves like an unravelling accordion, all sinewy deference and devilry in a performance of which Richard O’Brien himself would be proud. Joe Allen plays Eddie, a role originated by the dearly-departed Meat Loaf. Eddie only lasts for a single song, but if your number’s up, make sure that number’s “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul”, a rock ‘n’ roll riot that Allen absolutely kills. He also plays the Strangelove-esque Dr Scott (or should that be, Dr Von Scott?) to hilarious results. And Reece Bundin, Jordan Fox, Darcy Finden, Rachel Grundy and Danny Knott are Phantoms so magnificent they put the Opera Ghost to shame.

The plot might be slight but Rocky Horror isn’t about story as much as it is about pure, magnificent madness. Our steward through the madcap melee is Philip Franks, a stalwart of British stage and screen, who has played Rocky’s indomitable Narrator since 2012. He’s the human embodiment of the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ slogan; unfazed and unflappable, his beleaguered MC fields obscenities and interjections flung at him from the crowd – something for which Rocky Horror is legend. This is a show that’s performed as much by the audience as it is by the cast – and you might well see as many Columbias, Franks and Magentas in the stalls as you will on the stage.

Framed by a swirl of film reel, Hugh Durrant’s set transitions from 50s kitsch to Gothic camp – its mansion set looks as if Gaston bought the Moulin Rouge – and climaxes in a waterfall of crimson tinsel through which the characters, all dressed in identical scarlet corsets, emerge as their true selves. Sue Blane’s costumes are dead ringers for the ones donned by Curry and co. (and even improve on them on in some instances), and the live band, led by musical director Charles Ingles (stepping in for Greg Arrowsmith), really puts the “rock” in Rocky Horror.

Rocky Horror is a love letter to schlocky sci-fi B-movies and pretty ditties from the 50s (opening song, “Science Fiction/Double Feature”, has never sounded so beautiful or so poignant) – but most of all it’s a paean to self-expression; a fearless celebration of queer joy that implores us, “Don’t dream it, be it”. In Rocky Horror, everyone belongs. No-one is thrown away – even if they’re chainsaw-ed to death offscreen. It’s a ripped fishnets and smudged lipstick kind of a show; glamorous, rebellious, and racy, it’s not so much camp as it is a whole glampsite. Hot Patootie, Bless my Soul – you’ll really love that Rocky Show!

The Rocky Horror Show is playing at the New Theatre through to Saturday 12^th February

Images credited to David Freeman

The Millennium Centre is back with a boom – or should that be ‘broom’? – as the UK Tour of Bedknobs and Broomsticks sweeps through Cardiff this week. Based on the Disney classic and featuring original songs by the Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), with new music and lyrics by Neil Bartram, the ambitious production has the unenviable task of making its COVID-weary audience believe in magic again – and I’m thrilled to say it succeeds.

London, 1940: as World War II rages, the Rawlins children are tragically orphaned in the Blitz. Evacuated to the Dorset coast, they are assigned a new guardian: the eccentric Eglantine Price (Dianne Pilkington), a reclusive woman with a penchant for motorbikes and, they soon learn, magic. You see, Eglantine is a trainee witch, and she wants to use her powers to defeat the enemy – until she receives word that her witchcraft academy has suddenly shut up shop with her studies incomplete and a crucial spell unfinished. Armed with the titular bed(knobs) and broomstick(s), Eglantine and the Rawlinses travel back to London to complete the spell with the aid of Eglantine’s erstwhile educator, Professor Emelius Browne (Charles Brunton).

That’s a lot of set up for a story with a comparatively slender plot and a whole lot of animated sequences to translate into live action – but the creative team are more than up to the task. Jauntily directed by award-winning theatre-makers Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison, writer Brian Hill updates the original by adding much-needed characterization and depth to the unlikely quintet. West End star Dianne Pilkington leads an incredible ensemble with wit and whimsicality, channeling the legendary Angela Lansbury while putting her own instantly-iconic spin on the character. She brings a brusque charm and a delightful physicality to the role, and convincingly grows fond of her wayward wards without losing her edge. Her chemistry with Charles Brunton as the relentlessly lovable conman ‘Professor’ Browne is enchanting, and the odd couple has more time here than in the movie to get to know each other, making their romance more believable. And, on the strength of their performances here, the actors who play the Rawlinses (different each night, except for Conor O’Hara as Charlie), all have excellent careers ahead of them.

The show’s premier prestidigitator is Jamie Harrison, who is responsible for the magnificent sets and breathtaking illusions and also co-directs. Short of actual magic, I have no idea how he made beds soar, brooms fly, and brought the beautiful briny to bobbing, brilliant life – Harrison, who was also behind the technical wizardry of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has really outdone himself here. I genuinely can’t work out how he did it! His illusions complement Kenneth McLeod’s utterly charming puppets, which evoke everything from shoals of dancing fish and an obsequious bird, to a bashful bear and a literal lion king, not to mention a few human-to-rabbit transformations.

The flying bed takes Eglantine, Emelius and the Rawlinses all over the world, from the sleepy Dorset coast to the raucous London streets to the balmy/barmy island of Nopeepo. The vibrancy of these scenes are enhanced by Gabriella Slade’s costumes (Eglantine’s outfits, sequinned sea-wear and Portobello punk couture are standouts) and Neil Bettles’ choreography (the opening scene is a masterclass in movement). As for the musical numbers, ‘Portobello Road’ is a lively highlight, a carnivalesque spectacle of urban chicanery; and ‘The Beautiful Briny’ is suitably sublime, featuring gorgeous underwater locales and an aquatic dance-off – but there’s no substitute for ‘Substitutiary Locomotion’. If you don’t get chills when Eglantine starts chanting, ‘Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee’, then, frankly, you haven’t got a pulse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kctybEBIPtY

The pacing could be a little tighter, and while some of the new songs soar, others are a tad unwieldy. For example, ‘It’s Now’, while excellently performed by Brunton, does exactly the opposite of its title by preventing Emelius from entering the fight – which is exactly what he’s singing about doing! Why are you going into a second verse, Emelius? The Nazis are right behind you!

The ending diverges from the film and is sure to divide audiences too, but it doesn’t lose sight of what the real magic of the story has always been: that being with the ones you love is always an adventure. Well, that and a flying four poster… Spellbinding fun for the whole family, take a step in the right direction and catch this show while you can – you’ll beWITCHED, beDAZZLED, and be-CRAZY to miss it!

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is playing at the Wales Millennium Centre until 5^th February 2022

Being a regular visitor of Theatr Clwyd and knowing that most of their shows sell out, especially one nighters such as this, it was disappointing to see the auditorium not even half full for this performance. The surge over the winter months of the Omicron variant coupled with the fact that a production paying homage to the great crooners was always going to attract an older audience possibly being to blame. The cast even drew attention to this during their performance, joking that some audience members had come dressed as chairs! Still, a small audience didn’t mean a quiet audience and the cast soon had everyone singing, dancing and laughing along on what must’ve been a momentous and quite emotional occasion for them, it being their first outing in two years due to the pandemic; the poignancy of this highlighted in their finale number The Curtain Falls which includes the lyrics ‘people say I was made for this, nothin’ else would I trade for this, and just think I get paid for this’.

The Crooners is an eclectic mix of big band classics, hilarious physical comedy, tap dancing and lashings of quintessential Britishness with a story that runs throughout; that of the endangered crooner! The piece opens with the three main characters Rupert, Charlie and Winston sat on chairs holding up newspapers headlining the extinction of the crooner and it’s their mission to find a ‘mate’ this evening (cue plenty of audience interaction, especially if you happen to be sat in the first few rows!) The set is filled with ‘pipe smoke’, the décor is simple with two striking chandeliers donning the ceiling and we are immediately introduced to the incredible Mini Big Band, a 9-piece band including keys, double bass, drums, saxophone, trombones, trumpets and even the occasional jazz flute! And what a talented bunch of guys they are; switching between instruments, involving themselves in the production’s comedy skits and playing a huge repertoire of big band numbers including The Lady is a Tramp, When You’re Smiling, Beyond the Sea, Mack the Knife, and a whole lot more! The band never misses a beat and travel seamlessly from song to song. However, they are unfortunately, on occasion, louder than the cast, meaning we miss some of the fantastic vocals and lyrics.

The moustache seems to be The Crooners’ trademark; it is part of their logo along with a monocle and bowtie, it appears on their on-stage sign, lit up above the band and all three characters wear fake moustaches throughout the performance, with Rupert also wearing a bowler hat and monocle, looking more like the Monopoly man or Poirot than a crooner! It was obvious the cast were going for a typical old-British feel with posh accents, tea-drinking, and pipe smoking but, for me, this just didn’t reflect the era of the big band crooner, which we usually associate with Americans such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin etc. It was often difficult to see past the costume choices and moustaches and although the fake moustache falling off is funny once, it eventually becomes a distraction and takes away from the skilful performances of the piece.

https://vimeo.com/307945389

The comedy throughout the production goes down a storm with the audience and is more risqué than I perhaps expected with sexual innuendos, raunchy costume changes and racy one-liners, all brilliantly funny but kept child friendly. Extremely witty, hats off to script writer Roman Marek who has found a perfect balance between side-splitting comedy and the nostalgia of the era. His physical comedy on stage must also be applauded and his cast mates are the perfect foils. Often the leader of the piece can go over the top with their performance, but Marek knows exactly how and when to begin and end! Tim Harwood and Jim Whitley’s characters have a contrasting calming effect, and both have beautiful tones, whether speaking or singing, which set off the musical numbers perfectly.

Highlights of the show include the introduction of tap dance with the wonderful Choreography (‘chaps who did taps, aren’t tapping anymore, they’re doing choreography!’), Mr Bojangles (both performed wonderfully by Jim Whitley) and L.O.V.E in which we are required to participate by making the letter shapes with our arms (great fun!). But the performance lifts whenever the three sing together; the power of their voices combined is magnificent and the harmonies are stunning making it obvious why the classic crooners are their inspiration of choice.

This show is like nothing I’ve seen before; its unique mix of big band music, comedy and audience participation is superb, and I left the theatre feeling thoroughly entertained! My sides hurt from laughing and I was singing the tunes on the drive home and beyond! I would highly recommend The Crooners to theatregoers of any age. You don’t necessarily need a love or knowledge of the music or of the era; although I’m sure this adds to the experience, the songs, the comedy and the cast could be appreciated whether you’re a fan of Ol’ Blue Eyes or not!

The Crooners continues its UK Tour on February 11th at Cast in Doncaster and finishes on October 28th at Tyne Theatre and Opera House. Head to their website to book your tickets:

Theatr Clwyd, Mold
January 29th, 2022

Cast & Creatives:

Rupert: Tim Harwood
Charlie: Roman Marek
Winston: Jim Whitley
The Mini Big Band

Producers: Roman Marek & Jonathan Hibbard
Script: Roman Marek
Co-Writer: Simon Young
Director: Roman Marek
Musical Directors: Jonathan & Christopher Hibbard
Choreography: Roman Marek & Jim Whitley
Costume/Wardrobe: Rebecca Marek
Graphic Design: Rebecca Pitt
Photography: Stevieroy

Running Time: 2 hours (excluding interval)

It’s Christmas at the New Theatre again, and there’s nothing more festive than a pantomime. After nearly two years of not being able to boo or hiss (except at our elected representatives), pantomime is finally back – and you can’t get better than Aladdin, which graces the Cardiff stage this month. Produced by Crossroads Live, the world’s biggest pantomime producer, Aladdin has honed a recipe for the perfect panto: a dashing hero, a charming princess, a nefarious villain, and more ‘Oh no it isn’t’s than you can shake a stick at.

Though my latent love of panto has only recently been reawakened, I do have very fond memories of the Aladdin that ITV used to re-run every Christmas in the early 00s (the one featuring a knock-out performance by S Club 7). And this new version is even better, with Alan McHugh’s script and The Twins FX bringing the story and effects right up to date while retaining that rambunctious sense of classic family fun. Directed by Matt Slack, the story is set in ‘the mystical Empire of Caerdydd’ and follows Aladdin (Gareth Gates) and Princess Jasmine (Denquar Chupak), who want to get married against the wishes of Jasmine’s mother, the Empress (Lorraine Brown). Unbeknownst to him, Aladdin is the Chosen One, the only person who can retrieve the Magic Lamp from the Cave of Wonders – and an evil sorcerer, Abanazar (Stefan Pejic), plots to use him to steal the Lamp and rule the universe.

Now a star of musical theatre including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Les Miserables and Legally Blonde, Gareth Gates first stepped into the spotlight during the first series of Pop Idol, and has never looked back. Gates and Chupak make a perfect fairytale couple, and lay claim to some of the show’s poppiest highlights, featuring songs like High Hopes, Permission to Dance, Dynamite and a gorgeous rendition of Unchained Melody (Gates’ first number one single, and one which he sings even more beautifully now – and that’s really saying something). It’s also wonderful to see that this Princess Jasmine is more than capable of saving herself.

The show’s main purveyors of unhinged hilarity are legendary entertainer Paul Chuckle as Aladdin’s brother, Wishee Washee, and the fabulous Mike Doyle as their mother Widow Twankey (aka the First Lady of Panto). Chuckle’s comic timing is second to none, while Doyle, the New Theatre’s Pantomime Dame in residence, has fine-tuned the art of hamming it up. Doyle makes an unforgettable entrance: wearing a washing machine on his head and twerking to Bang Bang by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nick Minaj (one Dame to twerk them all?) Somehow, the outfit which features a stuffed panda on each hip isn’t even the most OTT ensemble he sports – though the award for best dressed might just go to local hero Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas as the Genie of the Lamp, who flexes his way across the stage to David Bowie’s Jean Genie wearing little but harem pants, feathers, and a smile. He’s as thrilling to watch on the stage as he is on the pitch – and, along with Chuckle and Doyle, make for one hell of a triple crown.

Everyone on stage is having a blast, and the joy is (dare I say) infectious. Doyle and Chuckle are constantly trying to one-up each other in the slapstick department, but the true winner is the audience. Lorraine Brown is an uber-glamorous Empress and Stephanie Webber an exceedingly elegant Scherezade, Spirit of the Ring; meanwhile Michael Morwood and the New Theatre Orchestra are on top form, and the Flying Carpet is used sparingly but spectacularly.

As the ominous Abanazar, Stefan Pejic slinks around the stage like the eyelinered lovechild of Tim Curry and Ming the Merciless, stealing scenes, hearts and hisses as he goes – don’t get me wrong, the rest of the cast are on their A-game, it’s just that Pejic has transcended the alphabet entirely. He opens Act 2 with a bang, performing Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name while ninja-dancers do a Matrix Paso Doble around him (kudos to Rory Beaton’s lighting and Steven Harris’ choreography too). I would gladly have watched Pejic read out a manual on installing drywall for two hours and I would have loved every second.

Aladdin is a story we all know and love, and this new production is brimming with tongue twisters and double entendres and slapstick – oh my! The energy of the cast is simply incredible – and with two shows a day, that’s nothing short of Herculean. If you get three wishes this year, make this one of them.

Aladdin is playing at the New Theatre through to 2^nd January 2022

In line with Welsh Government legislation, everyone over 18 attending the show will need to show an NHS Covid Pass or proof of a recent negative Covid test result with photo ID. The New Theatre Centre have implemented a number of COVID safety measures to keep audiences and the cast safe throughout performances.

A beauty, a beast, a castle, and a rose: these are the pieces which make up one of the most beloved stories of all time. Disney’s animated classic has enraptured audiences for thirty years, and for good reason, featuring memorable characters, iconic songs, and awe-inspiring animation. It’s no wonder that it took Broadway by storm soon after, and now a new touring production has made its way to Cardiff to remind us just how special a show this is. It’s easily one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen on the stage.

The team who brought the film to Broadway in 1993 have assembled to weave their magic once again, furnished with new technology, designs and special effects. Featuring music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and from a book by Linda Woolverton, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast brings to life everything you’ve ever loved about the original. This is a cast and creative team that are second to none, and together they make every frame a painting – you’d need ten pairs of eyes to take it all in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6605l2cU8M

Directed and choreographed by Matt West, Beauty and the Beast is a visual spectacle like no other. The Millennium Centre is the perfect location for a show of such immense proportions, and not one inch of the space is wasted. Ann Hould-Ward’s costumes, for which she won a Tony in 1994, continue to amaze and Stanley A. Meyer’s sets astonish – each one a work of art, they simply have to be seen to be believed. John Shivers’ sound design and Natasha Katz’s lighting, together with Darryl Maloney’s projections, are the unsung heroes of the production – and combine most thrillingly in an atmospheric chase scene in the woods that will get your heart pounding. Danny Troob’s sumptuous orchestration breathes life into Menken’s spellbinding score and Jim Steinmeyer’s illusions truly make you believe in magic. It isn’t just like walking into the movie, it’s like walking into a fairytale.

But their artistry can only thrive in the hands of a wonderful cast – and what a cast! As Belle, Courtney Stapleton commands the stage with a quiet power and a stunning voice, qualities which are showcased to perfection in the song, ‘A Change in Me’. She shares a wonderful chemistry with Alyn Hawke as the Beast, who brings a fantastic physicality to the role and a fabulously grumpy sense of humour that’s just like his animated counterpart (not to mention his magnificent rendition of ‘If I Can’t Love Her’). Sam Bailey’s Mrs Potts is a delight and she performs a gorgeously moving rendition of the title song that would make Angela Lansbury herself proud. Meanwhile, Sam Murphy as Lumiere and Nigel Richards as Cogsworth are the double act dreams are made of: Murphy is delectable as the charismatic candelabra with showmanship to spare, while Richards as the crotchety clock channels Ronnie Corbett via Dame Edna, but with a charm that’s completely his own. And there are excellent supporting performances by Samantha Bingley (Madame Garderobe), Emma Caffrey (Babette) and Martin Ball (Maurice), plus Iesa Miller as the most adorable Chip.

Between the audience and the actors, it was difficult to tell who was having the most fun – but I think that honour might go to Tom Senior as Gaston and Louis Stockil as Le Fou. Their rousing performance of ‘Gaston’ is the most fun to watch, and their (literally) rabble-rousing ‘Kill the Beast’ was both the most moving and unnerving number on the night. But for pure, breathtaking, all-out entertainment there’s not much that can top ‘Be Our Guest’, a feast for all the senses that evokes Busby Berkeley and Max Bialystock – Matt West and the cast have truly outdone themselves here.

I simply don’t know how you could get better than this – my expectations were astronomical and this show soars to the stars and back. This is a masterpiece which is every bit as good as the Disney original: if you love the animated film, you will adore this; if you don’t, you will be swept up by the magic, skill and spectacle on display. Enchanting visuals, a flawless cast, and a timeless story make Disney’s Beauty and the Beast an unmissable experience this Christmas. This tale as old as time has never been needed more that it is now: it tells us that true beauty can only be found within, that love is more powerful than fear, and that we need to keep hoping even after the last petal falls.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is playing at the Wales Millennium Centre through 15 January 2022.

In line with Welsh Government legislation, everyone attending the show will need to show an NHS Covid Pass or proof of a recent negative Covid test result with photo ID. The Millennium Centre have implemented a number of COVID safety measures to keep audiences and the cast safe throughout performances.